Studies of the roles of pituitary stem/progenitor cells that express the transcription factors, PROP1 and PRXs

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07771
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Integrative animal science
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: Kato Takako 明治大学, 研究・知財戦略機構, 研究推進員 (90445859)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): KATO YUKIO 明治大学, 農学部, 教授 (30114177)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-10-21 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 下垂体 / 幹細胞 / 生殖 / 分化 / 組織形成 / 転写因子 / 神経堤 / 血管形成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The pituitary gland is an endocrine organ that locates beneath the brain and synthesizes hormones important for maintenance of vital functions. The development and differentiation of tissues is progressing through the spatiotemporal expression of many transcription factors. This project focuses on the role of the pituitary-specific transcription factor, PROP1, and a novel pituitary transcription factor, PRX2 involved in pituitary organogenesis. Our studies have demonstrated following important results: 1) the responsive regions of many factors are present in the upstream promoter of PROP1 gene, 2) methylation of this gene is partially involved in expression in early development, 3) retinoid regulates the expression of PROP1 in the pituitary primordium, 4) PRX1- and PRX2-positive cells in the pituitary mesenchyme are involved in the pituitary vasculogenesis, 5) TtT / GF cells, expressing PRXs, derived from pituitary tumors, change into cells that express pericyte-like genes by TGFβ.

Free Research Field

内分泌学